Though stunningly simple by today's standards (the Odyssey
could not even keep scores and came packed with dice and paper
pads to supplement the play), the previously unimaginable
concept of playing games on a TV drove a large amount of
interest in the technology press and sold more than 300,000 units
before it was discontinued in 1975.
For a long time, Baer's inventions and legacy were overshadowed
by the events that followed them. Having seen a demonstration
of the Odyssey's tennis game, Nolan Bushnell - who would go on
to found Atari - refined the concept, added sound and the ability
to keep scores, and released the first successful arcade video
game, Pong.
Despite successfully suing Atari for patent infringement,
Magnavox
was
unable
to
stop
home
versions
of Pong proliferating, and unable to keep up, as Atari and others
dominated the American home and arcade video game markets.
Baer's immaculate note taking and collection of prototypes (all of
which now reside in the Smithsonian museum ) show that he built
a sound unit and additional games for the Odyssey but these
were not implemented by Magnavox.
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